phonemes
Smallest sound units
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that distinguish one word from another in a language.
The difference between "bat" and "pat" comes down to a single phoneme.
English has roughly 44 phonemes, though the exact count varies by dialect.
Linguists write phonemes between slashes: /b/, /p/, /æ/.
Children learn to identify phonemes when learning to read.
Oral muscle for taste
- lipsMouth's outer edges
- teethEnamel-covered chewing structures
- palateOral cavity ceiling
- glottisVocal cord opening
alveolar · bilabial · velar · uvular · plosive · fricative · affricate · nasal
Letters with unblocked airflow
- consonantsLetters that aren't vowels
- syllablesUnits of pronunciation
- pitchFrequency of sound
- frequencyRate of recurrence
resonance · spectrogram · waveform · duration · amplitude · voiceprint · sonority · sound waves
Smallest meaningful language units
- allophonesPositional sound variants
- phonologyScience of language sounds
- graphemesUnits of writing systems
- transcriptionWritten version of speech
IPA · distinctive features · segmental · underlying form · contrastive · free variation · neutralization · assimilation
Manner of speaking words
- accentRegional speech pattern
- dialectRegional language variety
- intelligibilityQuality of being understood
- speech soundsUnits of spoken language
spoken language · elocution · articulate · enunciation · native speaker · second language · speech therapy · speech recognition
tongue
Oral muscle for taste
glottis · alveolar · bilabial · velar · uvular · plosive · fricative · affricate · nasal · flap
vowels
Letters with unblocked airflow
- consonantsLetters that aren't vowels
- syllablesUnits of pronunciation
- pitchFrequency of sound
frequency · resonance · spectrogram · waveform · duration · amplitude · voiceprint · sonority · sound waves · perception
morphemes
Smallest meaningful language units
- allophonesPositional sound variants
- phonologyScience of language sounds
- graphemesUnits of writing systems
transcription · IPA · distinctive features · segmental · underlying form · contrastive · free variation · neutralization · assimilation · dissimilation
pronunciation
Manner of speaking words
- accentRegional speech pattern
- dialectRegional language variety
- intelligibilityQuality of being understood
speech sounds · spoken language · elocution · articulate · enunciation · native speaker · second language · speech therapy · speech recognition · mispronunciation
- psycholinguisticslanguage processing, language comprehension, word recognition, tip of the tongue, tip-of-the-tongue
- languagelanguage, word, words, grammar, spelling
- vocabularyword, words, new words, term, terms
- voicevoice, vocal folds, utterance, sound, voice box
- linguisticslinguistics, morpheme, morphemes, lexeme, nouns
- sign languageAmerican Sign Language, British Sign Language, fingerspelling, ASL, handshape